Hydropower is ‘at a crossroads’

SCOTLAND’S hydropower industry is at ‘a crossroads’ with new projects coming on stream and UK government subsidy changes threatening future jobs, Holyrood’s energy minister has claimed.

Visiting a pumped hydro storage plant at Foyers, near Loch Ness, Business, Innovation and Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse MSP said: ‘Hydro generation in 2015 was at a record high level – 5,780 GWh, up 6.3 per cent on 2014. But the hydro sector is at a crossroads, with a number of exciting developments opening, but with some future investments, especially in smallscale hydro, at risk due to changes in subsidies, brought in by the UK government, putting jobs at risk in many rural communities.’